Envision yourself sitting nearly at the edge of your seat in front of a
screen, in front of a worldwide audience that is watching your every move.
You proceed to watching the timer on the screen that is slowly counting
down, leading to form the unsettling urge that restricts you from
beginning… An endless wait.

Approximately 67 million and counting are playing worldwide right now. What
could it be that attracts so many? What benefits could an individual
possibly gain from online games? Every month League of Legends gamers are
putting on headsets and with multiple clicks of a button making millions
over single games that use strategic outlooks to defeat opponents that
range in different rankings. League of Legends is a free multiplayer online
battle arena, where many individuals from different countries across the
world interact in order to gain reputational status’ in which are greatly
recognized by many. But is that the only benefit you could possibly gain
from gaming?

You’re listening to inQUERY, the podcast show run by the professional
writing students here at York University. We're exploring the technology of
today and creating the new ideas of tomorrow.

hey listen clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seKaU-qQuts)

I’m Sabrina Chavarria and I would like to invite you on a journey to
discover the psychological effects and beneficial standpoints that come
with playing complex games like League of Legends, in relation to
educational factors with real life examples of people you may know and even
an exclusive interview of a student in your university today!

On this adventurous discovery you will come to know how scientific findings
that touch upon the digital age. They will allow us to expand past the
idealistic form of norms which leads us to understand how the digital
culture has and is creating an impact on today modern society.

In attempt to gain a scientific understanding of the differences between
those who are involved in online gaming and those who do not I looked into
finding more of a psychological trait that can found in those who do which
is explained by two famous Youtubers Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown. In
the clip it explains,

However,

AsapScience Clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOsqkQytHOs)

In the YouTube video, “Can Video Games Make You Smarter? “the narrator
explains how the brain functions and shares information on a study that was
interestingly found in Dyslexic gamers and gamers in general. They use
creative images with the help of colored dry eraser makers as a visual aid
to help with their explanations as well.

In keeping these psychological factors in mind it is important to consider
that

AsapScience Clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOsqkQytHOs)

While keeping these amazing details in mind, I will now present you with an
exclusive interview. A York University student in her third year attempting
to gain a masters in psychology agreed to sit down and answer a few
questions about her experience as a League of Legends gamer.

Exclusive Interview

Sabrina: what skills do you feel you've developed since you started playing
League of Legends?

Malena: Well there are three things one is multitasking getting through
hundreds of assignments while being addicted to the beautiful game is a
tall task. learning to switch between tasks while staying on task makes it
easier to have such an ability. the second is cooperation. in the game you
work in a team of five and are rewarded with not only skillful play but a
positive attitude and teamwork. at the end of the game the players decide
on who exhibited these traits the last thing I learn was self efficacy
being ranked higher then the top one percent out of over 60 million players
was a moment for me which i knew that if I set my mind to something that i
could accomplish it. it wasn't about the shiny plate or the people I didn't
know asking me about advice on how to play the game but the fact that I
could play competitively amongst other players that were making millions to
play the game. Some of which were playing over like 12 hours a day.

Sabrina: In relation to what you've just said, how do you feel its helped
you in your university life?

Malena: The multitasking is definitely something I was able to learn from
it helped me manage and balance my social life, work and university. Self
efficacy helped me with knowing I can get A's and achieve my goals… Ill
explain, in League of Legends there are many areas that you have to attend
and to learn which ones you have to improve by self criticizing was
something that helped me in school and in the work place.

Sabrina: For my third question, I would like to ask what forms of self
improvement do you think League of Legends brings out to the young
population?

Malena: The developers of League of Legends have set up tribunals that
consist of players that punish negative behaviors and reward the good ones.
This means that the community itself forms its players to act like one. It
makes them want to be a good team and to be a supportive person and even
show kindness to others.

Sabrina: Do you recommend League of Legends to the young population or to
other university students? What are some of the downfalls?

Malena: Umm… League of Legends is great but its also very addictive if
people do not have self discipline it can take up a lot of your time. If
your someone like me who doesn't have an addictive personality, then it's a
great game for you!

Fortunately, we were able to listen short interview on an actual York
University Student who plays League of Legends.

Now let’s move on to a recent documentary called League of Millions. This
three-part documentary found on YouTube will provide you to provide the
with a more central focus on actual individuals who do take upon playing
League of Legends as a lifestyle and career in front of a world wide
audience.

It is important to present this kind of information into today’s episode
because it gives an insight as to actual real life individuals who preform
in front of world wide audience,

Let’s take a close listen as we listen to Chrisitian Rivera aka
IWILLDOMINATE, as he speaks on behalf of his experience as a League of
Legends gamer.

League of Millions Clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTFDTXe8AfA)

So we’ve gotten to hear the thoughts of what a league of legends player has
to say…. So maybe pulling an all-nighter doesn’t seem so appealing any
more…l4 hours?! That’s crazy! Like can you imagine only sleeping for 4
hours? I fall asleep at like 10!

An academic journal called *Online communication and Adolescent
Relationships touched upon the interactive *aspects that help an
adolescence develop proper and professional communication skills. Teamwork
was something which was mentioned in the exclusive interview… Now think
about how teamwork and communication come together… As we merge these two
very important skills together we can use online games like League of
Legends as a form that can be seen to put these skills of teamwork and
communication to work.

Speaking of the word communication can you think of word that rhymes with
it? Mutation? Translation? No no no no… we’re talking about education. But
what does the word have to do with gaming?

League of Legends creates a sense of diverse ideologies amongst those who
do play it and those who don’t. The intensely argued debate towards
considering its underlying factors while finding a real connection between
gamification of education continues to persist as a topic of interest that
is often spoken about by many scholarly researchers.

Gamification is tactical formation in the educational and professional
systems that involves a strategic reward or point system in order to engage
the ones performing within the institution or organized system.
Gamification has entered into our modern society for encouragement of
better work progression and results in the tasks requiring completion.
However, a book written by Karl “Don’t think of gamification as only the
use of badges, rewards and points; instead, think of the engaging elements
of why people play games – its not just for the points – its for the sense
of engagement, immediate feedback, sense of accomplishment, and success of
striving against a challenge and overcoming it.” (Knapp Preface xxii).
Knapp

This relates the the point systems found in the general function of League
of Legends as it rewards the player through high and often recognizable
rankings, allows other players to communicate and give feedback to each
other through a chat log.

As Knapp explains in his book, gamification is truly about the “success of
striving against a challenge and overcoming it. When using League of
Legends as an example it becomes evident through the professional clip and
the exclusive interview that both these individuals strive in becoming the
best they can be not only within the game through a psychological and
professional advancement.

And now to answer some of the burning questions about esports...

What is esport clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtLb5_8RZkg)

It is truly a competition in which we can all see. The constant battle of
against trying to improve oneself in order to compete against another. Is
there more of a difference between a skill and a talent? Do we only poses
talents and build on skills?

A competition for money, a competition for fame, a competition for
improvement, a competition between millions, a competition to form an
identity perhaps?

What is esports? clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtLb5_8RZkg)

Its also good to know the educational and professional systems are leaning
more into a gamification system as opposed to regular teachings and boring
lectures.

Well that is it for today. Thank you for listening to me on InQuery. I hope
you enjoyed and learned a lot from my podcast!

Closing music

For further information on topics that relate to this podcast, check out my
blog! (
http://stephanie-bell-m08b.squarespace.com/blog-season1/2340b379-0430-487e-beba-5eb2101e9d09
)